Mind's Eye
by Torn Apart Paper Dinosaur
Summary: Edward, by Mustangs standards, is struggling with the trauma he has been through recently. He has been condensed to kid again, and is finding it difficult to remember exactly what happened to him. Edward went past enemy lines, became MIA along with his brother, only to show up two weeks later his memory failing. Although the only thing he seems to be focused on is finding Alphonse.
1. Chapter 1

AN: Hey everyone, yes - I'm alive. Which is why I'm posting a new story. I'm not done with the others, but I needed a break and have been writing my own story for the past few months. Thank you all for reading this and sticking with me when I've been gone for so long. I thank my betas: Erudito and NightmareWorld, who have helped me by motivating me and making sure my grammar isn't lost in the many words I write. This might be confusing at first, but it gets better, trust me. Updates however are unknown, it depends on how many people like it, and give comments that could keep me going. Without further ado, Mind's Eye.

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The sun beat down upon the wide open hills and endless waves of corn, its hulking presence dominating the barren blue sky. Deep in the open countryside of the southeast, summer had scorched the land, wilting crops and running creeks dry. The chill of autumn had never seemed further away.

It was early morning, and the temperature was already ninety-three degrees outside. Everyone in their right mind had long ago fled indoors, away from the blazing sun that threatened to ignite fires and turn the countryside a brittle brown. Only an oak, the sole tree throughout these hundreds of acres of farmland, stood tall against the heat. A way up the road from the tree stood a small house.

The tree was towering, bark peeling in several places, hinting that it was coming to the end of its years. The branches were tangled with one another, their leaves forming a barrier from the sun. A pool of shade lay at the base of the tree.

And sprawling on the split grass within the cool shade was a crazy person willing to challenge the sun at the height of its power. The person was a boy who appeared to be about seven years old, though this was an uncertain estimate because he was lying down, with his arm covering his face.

His hair was a goldenrod color, tied back into a braid and his skin sickly pale, despite the sun's attempt to change that. The boy was wearing black pants with a black sweatshirt. His hands were covered in black leather gloves. The boy obviously wasn't prepared for the freaky heat wave that crept up. Or he was just stupid, and wanted to die of heat stroke. He appeared to be asleep, not moving at all; even his breath was too shallow. Slow enough to make it look like he wasn't taking in any air at all.

He might be dead. It could be fairly possible, with the heat and all. The slightest amount of breeze came and went. And the boy finally took a deep breath, and slowly let it out. Too happy that there was a slight breeze in the first place, however, the breeze did not last long. The boy let out a long sigh, and tore his arm away from his face.

He had golden eyes to match his hair. They had a small look in them, some might say it were ignorance, others straight stubbornness, yet in all of that jumbled mess was a hint of fear.

The boy blinked and groaned, while cursing under his breath. "Fuckin' hot, damn bastard," the small boy mumbled as he slowly sat up. Glancing at his surroundings, expecting something to jump out and attack him, though nothing did. He sighed once more, and stood on his feet. Stretching his arms above his head, satisfied when he heard a few pops. He continued with rolling his shoulders while his eyes landed on the small house, the only one for miles.

His face turned into a deep scowl as he stopped rolling his hurt shoulders. Walking in the direction of the small house he kept his head down and watched his feet crush the healthy green grass beneath him.

He didn't let his eyes linger from the ground until he got to the steps of the house. He went up the three steps with little to no difficulty. There was a man sitting on the swing reading a newspaper.  
He had short black hair, and he looked well fit. Not any bulging muscles, but not scrawny like the kid in front of him looked like. The man sighed as the kid sat on the porch stairs, furthest away from him.

"Come here to apologize," the man said as he turned the page.

The boy just scoffed while glaring at the ground. "You should be the one apologizing, not me," he justified.

The man held back another sigh as he said, "You know quite well that you are the one who should be saying sorry. I already have."

"I did nothing wrong, but you did."

"Edward, you know what you did was unacceptable. That was one of the rules that I asked you not to break. And you broke it already and only two days into this," the man said as he shook his head in disappointment.

Edward kept sitting there, staring out into the countryside. He took a breath and started speaking again, "I did what I had to do, Mustang, keep out of it."

Mustang folded his paper up and set it off to the side. He needed to focus on what he was saying, he needed to make Ed understand what he did was not going to be tolerated. "Ed, your business is now my business. So there is no 'keep out of it' as you put. And we had a talk over the rules, and you agreed that they were tolerable, and that you wouldn't break any of them. And you lied."

Edward ground his teeth together, trying to stay as calm as he could. However every part of his being wanted to punch Mustang into next week. "My business is my own. And I didn't lie," he said, not going into any details. Afraid if he did so, then he would get even more upset and start yelling. Then punch Mustang. Though it was not certain on which one would come first.

"Well when you put other people's lives on the line, it becomes their business -" he was cut off by the angered child before him.

"I never asked you guys to help. I am not in the military anymore, so therefore it is not your problem."

"Ed," Mustang said with a hint of worry on the name. "When you showed up the way you did, do you expect us to watch you struggle? We are your friends, and we want exactly what you -"

He got interrupted once again. "I am not struggling."

Mustang just ignored that little comment and continued with what he was going to say. "Just, be patient."

Ed just turned and glared at Roy. "Patience. You want me to be patient, how the hell can I be patient when you won't let me help?"

"Ed, we told you to let us handle everything, and you wouldn't have to worry about it."

"You expect me to not be worried after what happened?" Ed questioned him.

"No, but we would appreciate it if you followed the rules."

"I didn't break any of your damn rules," Ed said as he turned his attention to the long stretch of road.

"Yes you did. Rule number two: no telephone unless it's an emergency," Roy told him.

"It was an emergency," Ed said, his voice was distant, as if he were thinking of something else.

"Riza told me why you called. And seeing how the investigation is going is not an emergency."

"Yeah, well, to me it is. And what happened if there really was an emergency, we are hundreds of miles away from anyone who would help us. Who's to say they would get here on time?"

"Nothing, however I trust my men. You should too." Roy sighed, knowing what he was about to say to Ed would not make him happy. "Ed, you can't just call Central whenever you feel like it."

"You want to bet, old man," Edward grumbled at him.

"No, I don't want to bet anything. Edward, this is serious, the phone could be tapped. So promise me you won't use the phone, unless it is important. Also try not to break any of the rules," Mustang clarified any confusion as to the use of the telephone. Before stating, "And I am not old."

"Well maybe the military should make a better safe house, why even have the phone if it could easily be tapped?" Ed asked as he ran a finger on the wood next to him, tracing a fine grain with his gloved hand. "And you can't deny it, Mustang, you are getting up there."

"Well, like I said at least ten times before, in case of an emergency -"

Ed waved him off. "Yeah, yeah, I know the protocol for the phone service in the military," Ed interrupted him. "It pisses me off that I'm sitting here when I could be out there finding him," he whispered as he glanced up at the horizon, looking at the sky that slowly blended in with the growth of the grass.

Mustang sighed once again and turned the page in the newspaper. "Give us some time. We still have no idea of general location of where you guys were. Not to mention it's taking its toll on my men."

"Yeah, well, if you guys let me help, I could research, or remember an important detail. Or, or…do something besides sit on my ass all day," Ed said with his hands moving in a weird formation. "And I'm sure two and a half months is enough time. You guys should have found something already."

"Riza told you as soon as they found something that you could help with, they would call. However it might be awhile, I mean with the way that things happened, we need to know for sure. Plus these guys are proving to be difficult to find, they think like -"

"Psychopaths? Yeah, I know I spent half a month with them," he grumbled. '_And who knows what they're doing to Al right now, which is if he's still alive_.' he thought. Shaking his head, he focused on something else. Glancing up towards Mustang he said, "Maybe you should get a new team, they're falling behind."

"Not everyone is a research genius like you are, Ed. Also I didn't kick you out when you messed up, or caused us hundreds in destruction."

"Hey!" Ed yelled. "Not all of that was my fault; I told you it was a huge misunderstanding... but why did you hire them if they don't know what they're doing?"

"Sure, it was all an accident." Roy ignored the curses coming from the boy in front of him, and continued. "You know as well as anyone else that I don't hire the people on my team. They are new, and adjusting to the lifestyle of the military."

"What about me?" Ed questioned with a smirk on his face, knowing the answer.

"Don't be a smart ass," Roy replied shortly while he scanned the headlines for something interesting.

"Yeah, whatever." Ed put his arms on his knees and sat his head upon them.

They sat in silence for a long while. Ed kept his head down and Mustang read his newspaper. The silence stretched through the air as if waiting for an attack. And the attack came from Ed, though it was more of a gesture instead of an attack.

"I'm sorry for snapping at you," Ed mumbled as he glanced down the long stretch of road. "But you have to admit, it was your fault."

"Right, so it's my fault that you stormed out after I yelled at you. And I closed the door, which just so happened to be locked, thus this is entirely my fault," Mustang said sarcastically.

"Yes it is," Ed said as he glanced at an ant strolling through the dirt. "I never asked you to come after me, and the least you could have done was grab the key; oh smart one."

"Ed, I'm not going to fight over it. What's done is done, now let's move on."

"Right and we can start by busting down the door, because it's fuckin hot out," Ed said as he stood up and made a move towards the door. He was about to clap his hands together, the equation clear in his mind, but a hand stopped him.

Ed turned to scowl at Mustang. And he roughly shook him off, and took a step away.

"Ed, don't, that was again another rule. And if you broke this one it would be much more dangerous than the telephone call. I'm sorry but you just can't," Mustang told him as he slowly shook his head.

Ed shook his head, "So what the hell can I do?"

"Wait. Someone should be up here tonight to check up on how we're doing. And they should have some news on the case," Mustang told him.

"Great, so we sit here and bake, waiting for someone to come. But I swear if they don't have anything good, they can sleep outside," Ed said as he sat down on the deck.

Mustang sighed, "They will take your bed, and you can crash on the couch." He held a hand up, stopping the outburst that was about to occur, and continued. "And as far as I know it could be someone new. Meaning they know nothing about you, and certainly about what happened a few months ago. So in slow terms it means you have to act your apparent short age."

"I'll have you know I am a LOT taller than the first time I was seven," Ed demanded, and then mumbled, "Or however old I am. And I'll act how I want to act. Just don't blame me when the newbie doesn't know anything and gets outsmarted by a child. Do any of your new recruits know any alchemy?"

"That is exactly why you need to act your appearance instead of nineteen. It would save trouble in the end of explaining things that are better left unsaid. And no, none of them know of any alchemy, all the more reason to act as if you have no idea what we are talking about."

"You can't be serious," Ed glared at Mustang. "There is absolutely no way I am going to seem as if alchemy confuses me, that _is_ the whole case, how am I supposed to help?"

"That's the thing; you are supposed to be relaxing. Not fretting on whether or not we are a step closer."

Ed rubbed his face with his hand, but took it off immediately. He sighed before saying, "No promises but I will try to act my age. However I started studying alchemy as soon as I could read, so why not let me do some research or something small like that?"

Mustang glanced at him, before finishing yet another article, "I'm sorry Ed, but you can't. You are supposed to be a nobody, not the tie to the case. I know you're anxious to get out there and look, but give it more time. We will find something eventually," he told Ed.

Ed groaned and fell back on the deck. "God, Mustang, you trying to kill me?"

"No, I'm saving you time on all those endless leads you were sent on. It's about time you relaxed, don't you think?"

"No, no I don't."

"Why don't you take off your gloves, and wear shorts for once? It's not as if I haven't seen them before," Mustang commented. Referring to the metal limbs Edward had.

"I just don't feel right...and it's no use getting comfortable when someone is coming up here soon. You said it yourself that I was supposed to lay low, and I am," Ed told him as he stared at the clouds above them. "Just leave me alone for a moment, Mustang, I need to think."


	2. Chapter 2

AN: Hello guys, thanks for coming back. Sorry this was late - but then again I didn't really set a deadline. I'd like to thank my betas: Erudito and NightmareWorld, who have helped me by motivating me and making sure my grammar isn't lost in the many words I write. Updates are still unknown, it varies on life and school now. I would also deeply thank the one reviewer I got, however they are a Guest. So, if your reading this again, Guest, thank you so much you made my week. :)

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Chapter: 2

The sun had gone down long ago. Ed had moved so his whole body was spread out on the wooden planks of the deck. His eyes were closed, his breathing soft and slow. He was asleep.

Mustang was still on the swing, his eyes straining to read the fine print in front of his face. Huffing he gave up, and threw the paper at his feet.

Edward cracked an eye open, and craned his head so he could see Mustang.

"Found out Havoc stole one of your old girlfriends and they are now getting married?"

Mustang just glared at Ed. "The day Havoc gets married is the day you hit puberty."

"Har-har, you're hilarious Mustang," Ed said as he sat up. "But seriously what was in the paper?" Ed reached for it, and Mustang grabbed it out of his reach.

Edward glared at Mustang, "What's in that paper, Mustang?"

"Nothing of importance to you," Mustang told him.

Ed slowly got up, "Give me the paper, Mustang."

Mustang shook his head, and folded the paper. "There is nothing for you to see, Ed."

Ed took a step closer to Mustang, and he stood up, glancing down at Ed. Who stuck out his hand. "I'm only going to ask nicely one more time. Give. Me. The. Paper. Mustang."

"No," Mustang demanded. He was going to say more when he was cut off by the sound of an engine.

He turned his head to see a car a few yards away. The headlights brightened up the pathway.

Ed stomped on his foot. The pain made him drop the paper in surprise. Ed snatched it out of the air and retreated away from Mustang to the other side of the deck.

Mustang held his foot and glared at Ed. Though he wasn't paying attention to him, Ed was already reading the paper, and Mustang didn't doubt that he was half-way through the front page despite there being no light, other than the stars above.

He was going to snatch the paper away, not believing Ed was ready for what the news had to say. But a car door shut and the person walked up quickly towards him.

He stopped short in front of Mustang and saluted, "Sergeant Major Rodney, reporting for duty, sir."

"At ease, Sergeant Major Rodney," Mustang waved his hand a little.

"Sorry I am late, sir," Rodney told Mustang. "Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye wanted to make sure I had all of the proper files for you to look over."

"How many did she give you?" Mustang questioned as he glanced at the boxes overflowing in the back seat.

"Quite a few," Rodney remarked. "However it didn't take long because Second Lieutenant Havoc helped out alot. Speaking of Second Lieutenant Havoc, he told me to say 'hello to the chief', which I thought was weird because I've never heard him call you that before."

Mustang glanced over at Ed, who continued to read. "No clue, but you know how Havoc is..."

"Yeah, he says the most random things," Rodney trailed off and followed Mustangs line of sight. "Oh! Who is that? Is she yours?"

Mustang could practically see Edward twitch, but he kept reading, his attention centered in the paper he wasn't supposed to see. "Umm, no," he told Rodney. Then turned towards Ed's direction and yelled, "Edward! Come over here."

He heard Ed grumble a few choice words and he sighed, "Now," he ordered.

"My mistake, it's just farther away, with the braid," Rodney tried to explain.

"It's fine." Mustang shook his head and told him. "He's not mine though, he's... Riza's nephew, and he needed to be watched."

"This is one weird place to babysit... Why couldn't you have left him with Lieutenant Hawkeye?"

Before Mustang could respond he was interrupted, by the blonde. "What," Ed snapped, coming up to the two of them just then.

"This is Sergeant Major Rodney, he is the new Information Specialist," Mustang explained.

"Hello, how are you?" Rodney smiled as he looked down at Ed.

"Pissed," Ed retorted. He threw the paper at Mustang. "Get rid of those damned lies, burn it or something, I don't want to look at it."

Mustang caught the paper and sighed. "Language, Ed," he reminded him.

Ed just glared at Mustang, before he asked, "What did you need?"

Mustang looked at Rodney and asked, "You have a key to this place right?"

"I do," he said as he took them out of his pocket.

Mustang nodded, "Go unlock the door, and get ready for bed." When Ed glared at him, he added, "Don't start with me, just do it."

Ed didn't comment but chose a few choice words under his breath as he snatched the keys out of Rodney's hand and made his way to the door.

"He has quite a mouth on him, doesn't he?" Rodney told him as he watched Ed make it into the house.

Mustang sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose "You have no idea.."

"Shall we get started then? It looks like it might rain," Rodney told him.

Mustang nodded, looked up at the clouds, they did seem full and slightly darker than normal. He went to go help with the boxes, when he noticed the paper Ed had thrown at him. The bold letters on the heading said: NEW CASE OPENS UP.

Underneath it was the lead: As the war rages on towards the north, the military is doing nothing to stop it. They are too preoccupied with the 'Scar case'. Eye witness accounts say that there is a new murderer out on the enemies lines. He copies the attacks of the one previously known as 'Scar', and mangles the body beyond recognition. He was last seen walking away from an alleyway in West City, where two dead bodies were found.

At a local meeting a few military officers gave their opinion regarding the 'Elric case'. They state that one Colonel Edward Elric was captured by the new enemy and officers have given up search. It has been almost three months since the last sighting of Elric. Officials say he was confronted by the enemy and taken hostage, when interrogated he revealed top military information.

Roy stopped reading it there. He knew the ending, and it was not good. Filled with lies, as Ed pointed out, one after another. He just hoped Ed could control himself a while longer and not jump out onto the battlefield in an attempt to find his brother. His team was really doing all they could. They were at a standstill only two and a half months after finding Ed and taking action with the little information he provided them.

"Here, take these," Rodney told him as he handed him a few boxes.

Roy hummed as he took the boxes, and managed to keep a good grasp of the newspaper. Heading to the front of the cabin, he slowly made his way up the short three steps and came to the door. Sighing he shoved the closed door open, seeing he couldn't maneuver the boxes to get a free hand.

"Nice of you to open the door for me," he remarked as he set the boxes down in the empty corner of the living room.

Edward groaned, and grabbed a pillow to put over his head, successfully blocking out his superior's complaints.

Mustang sighed and glanced at the paper that he still had. "If you insist on acting like a brat, then I'll have no troubles treating you like a child."

"Bastard.." Ed mumbled into the pillow. He quickly sat up and glared at Mustang, "What do you want?"

"You need to burn this," Mustang said as he held up the paper. "While I go and help bring in all the files Hawkeye sent."

"Great," Ed said as got up and stretched. He moved away from the couch and sidestepped the coffee table and he stood in front of Mustang, who raised an eyebrow and looked down at his attire. "What?" Ed snapped.

"Please don't tell me you were going to wear your clothes to bed?" Roy asked.

"What of it." Ed crossed his arms, not seeing anything wrong with it.

Roy groaned, "Ed...what do you normally wear to bed?"

"My boxers, seeing as I don't have really anything else. And there is no way I'm going to wear anything but pants and a long sleeved shirt to bed. I don't want Roger fucking staring," he grumbled.

"His name is Rodney, and you should remember it. As to your pajamas, I thought Riza bought you everything you needed?" Roy asked.

"Same thing," he mumbled, before saying. "I don't know. She gave me a whole bunch of shit."

"Right... well I'll take a look at the things Riza packed here in a minute. Take this and burn it in the fireplace," Roy told him as he handed him the folded up paper.

Ed took it, then said, "Where else would I burn it? Over the stove?" Then from the look on Roy's face he just scowled, "Fine, fine. Would you give me a light then, Flame Alchemist?"

Mustang sighed and closed his eyes in concentration as he brought up his right hand in the correct position. He quickly snapped his fingers and a spark went through the air and connected to the paper and set a flame. He opened his and looked at Ed, who was staring at the burning paper.

"Was it too big?" He asked Ed.

"Nah, it was good. Took you long enough though," he told Mustang.

"Well I haven't had years of practice without a circle," Mustang commented.

"Yeah, well I would help you out if you would let me do alchemy," Ed retorted.

Mustang sighed, "Nice try, but no. Now go put that out before you burn the place down."

"Oh yeah, how many times did you burn your place down before you mastered flame alchemy? A little fire never hurt anyone," Ed remarked as Mustang ignored him and walked out the front door.

Ed sighed and flipped the paper upside down, to watch the flames eat away the lies of ink on the paper.

"What are you doing?" Rodney yelled as he came through the front door, carrying three boxes.

"What's it look like?" Ed asked, annoyed.

"Put that down before you start a fire!" He sat the boxes down as Ed walked over to the fireplace and scoffed.

"Are you blind? Wait, don't answer that. As you can see the bright orange flame, that is a fire already. So no need to worry about me starting one, it's already here. Though I doubt I could burn this place down with just this." He threw the paper into the wood, grabbed the stoker and stabbed the paper as the ashes covered the surrounding wood planks.

"Where did you get the match?" Rodney asked him.

Ed laughed, "Are you forgetting that we're in the presence of the Flame Alchemist? I don't need a match."

"General Mustang wouldn't want a child playing with fire, so leave it alone," Rodney said as he took the stoker out of Ed's hand.

Ed scowled and was about to yell a retort, when thunder crashed and lightning sparked outside. Rain was coming down fullforce. That was when Mustang came in, with more boxes, and slammed the front door. Soaking wet he set the boxes next to the other ones.

He wiped his hair to the side with his hand and sighed. "We can get the rest tomorrow."

"General Mustang!" Rodney said as he ran over to him. "You shouldn't have gone out there, you're drenched."

"What was your first clue?" Ed asked as he stared at the fire that was slowly going out.

Mustang glared at Ed and shook his head slightly. "I'm fine, Sergeant. Just a little wet, water never hurt anyone."

"You need a towel, Sir," Rodney spoke up, then shot Edward a look. "Go get the general a towel."

Edward just glared at the flames, not moving. "Now," he ordered.

Ed clenched his fists, but before he could do anything. "Edward. Could you please go grab me a towel?" Mustang asked.

The blond scowled and turned around while mumbling, "Bastard." He walked out of the living room and into the hallway.

"He has no manners whatsoever, does he?" Rodney asked Mustang.

"You would actually be surprised..." Mustang commented.

"Does Hawkeye know he behaves like this?"

"Oh, yeah, she knows alright."

"Well, shouldn't she do something about it?"

"How about you mind your own damned business," Ed remarked as he stalked back into the living room and threw a towel at Mustang; who caught it with ease.

"Ed...your language," Mustang reminded him as he dried his hair off.

"Yeah, you should watch that mouth, kid," Rodney said sternly. "If you want to be in the military like your Aunt then you should get rid of that language. Plus, no one respects someone who eavesdrops. If you do it again, try to be subtle about it, you have no stealth."

"I'm nine and I'll talk however the fuck I want to," Ed snapped. "I'll pass on becoming a dog of the military, thanks for the option though. But, if I wanted to be, I can be very stealthy," he mumbled.

"Hardly," Roy commented softly about the Ed's stealth, before clearing his throat and continuing, "Come on, Ed, let's find you something to wear. Rodney, you can sleep in the room on the right. We can look at the files tomorrow."

Rodney saluted and then went down the short hallway and into Edward's room. Roy then gestured for Ed to follow. Ed shuffled behind him and mumbled, "Kiss ass."

Roy smacked him lightly over the head and threw the towel in the hamper. "He's saluting unlike someone I know, however he does tend to do it more often than not..."

"Which is why he's such a suck up. Come on, Mustang, don't tell me you don't see when someone's bending your own arm? He totally wants something from you, the way he acts, it's shady," Ed said as he sat on Mustang's bed.

"No, its called being loyal to your superior officer. You should take some pointers, you need them," Mustang said as he dragged a box from the corner.

"That'll be the day, I keep telling you I'm no longer one of your dogs. I quit the day things got back up and running."

"Right, which is why you forgot to turn in your watch?" Mustang asked as he threw a pair of sweats at the kid.

Ed huffed as he caught the pants. "Well it's too late to turn it in now. Don't have it anyway. I still have no clue why Grumman gave me a promotion after I specifically told him I was quitting."

"You deserved that promotion and you know it. He just made it official on paper, the Hero of the People, earned that right. However I didn't know you don't have your watch anymore, that's a serious thing how could you just lose it?"

"I didn't lose it, those Psychopaths took it, mumbling how I didn't deserve to be an alchemist. Now you tell me how that all fits together in Grumman's papers? The newspaper sure gave an effort to stretch the truth," Ed told him.

"So you do remember something else? What else, that's not just it," Roy said as he shifted through the box to find a shirt.

Ed sighed and took off his gloves, "I don't know. Not much, my memory keeps coming in splashes, and at random."

"But you still remember most of your past...or shall I say distant future?"

"Yeah, I still remember you as a Bastard, so that covers most of it. I just want to remember what the fuckers did to me, then we could find Al faster..."

"It takes time, Ed, it's only been two months, just be -"

Ed interrupted him, "If you say patient, then I'm making you sleep on the couch."

"I was going to say lenient, but patient works too," Roy told him.

Ed shook his head and stood up to shimmy out of his pants. He put on the sweats and frowned when they practically fell off of his waist.

"Well, you are small," Roy smirked, then became serious. "Was one of your memories your ninth birthday or something?"

"Shut it Mustang. And I'm not sure if my body's nine, or eight. After our mom died, we never really celebrated birthdays like we used to. Though I'm leaning more towards nine..." He got rid of his sweatshirt and Mustang traded him a long sleeved shirt.

"But, no offense Ed, you look like you're seven; if that. So, how do you know for sure?"

"If you must know," Ed mumbled, then pulled the collar of his shirt down to show his automail shoulder.

"But I thought your automail was fine," Roy said as he got up and looked at Ed's right shoulder, the metal outlined an inflamed red mark. "You're supposed to tell me if it's infected. Now I'll have to call Pinako... Damnit, Ed, we talked about this and how you wouldn't neglect your automail. Your body probably can't take the strain and now you will no doubt have to go without for a while. Or I could call Winry -"

"Don't you fucking dare!" Ed snapped as he glared at Mustang. "Winry is not to know. Hell I don't want her knowing about any of this. She would panic, and then yell at me...there would be a lot of yelling involved..and smacking.."

"All the more reason to tell her, Ed. If your automail is that bad, it needs to be fixed. And you and I both know Winry can fix it with no problem. Plus, you can't keep it from her forever, she will find out eventually. When she does, no doubt she'll be even more pissed than if you just told her yourself. Think of if she read the newspaper? Don't you think she would appreciate to know you're alive?"

"Of course she'll be happy, I'm not stupid.. I-I just don't want to tell her without getting Alphonse back. There is no way I'm going to break the news to her like we are now..."

"Like what? A midget?"

"No," Ed said, ignoring - or not even hearing - the short joke. "We're not together. And until I find Alphonse, safe and unharmed, I will not tell Winry. It would break her heart. So you cannot tell her."

"Well then what am I suppose I do about your automail?" Roy asked, concerned that Ed wasn't listening.

"Nothing, my automail isn't messed up - yes it hurts, but it always does - so that's nothing new. I got this red gash before my automail. Hell it was even before we started really started to put the transmutation together. We were training, with Izumi, when I got this," he referred to the scratch, before continuing, "It got infected since I didn't wrap it right."

Roy broke in then, "If you tell me your teacher stabbed you, then we are going to have some serious problems from here on out."

"No, she never stabbed us, not intentionally anyway..." Ed coughed before continuing, "Regardless this wasn't from Izumi, it was from a fox, and it had rabies, thus the scarring. I would have it anyway, even if I was my normal age. It just healed wrong, so I'm fairly sure I'll have it till the day I die."

"What were you doing playing with rabid foxes? Also if you did get bitten, why didn't you go to someone? Well, maybe your teacher would have made some makeshift bandage, because something tells me your younger self had a hatred for hospitals too, am I wrong?"

"You're pretty spot on," he commented about his fear of hospitals. "But I wasn't with Izumi when I was 'playing with rabid foxes', as you put it. We - me and Al - were training on the island, and they ate our fish so I tried to get it back, this was the result."

"Wait, what?" Roy asked as he pushed the box back under the bed. "You and your brother were on an island, training? Why were you training on an island in the first place!?"

"Would you calm down, I'm alive right? However I thought you knew?"

"And you got a rabid fox bite in the process. But no, I didn't know. So why were you out there with Al, wasn't he a little young?" Mustang asked, nervous that if something happened to Ed, then something must have happened to the younger brother as well.

"Hmm, thought you took the liberty to look at our whole past before letting me into the military... Anyway we were on that island for the sole purpose of training. We had one month to figure out what 'all is one and one is all' meant. It was a hell of a challenge, but we passed and then she taught us all she knew," Ed told him.

"What does 'all is one and one is all' mean?" Mustang asked, curious.

"You mean you don't know?" Ed asked seriously.

"Why would I be asking if I knew?"

Ed shrugged, and fixed his shirt, "I don't know, because you're an arrogant bastard?" At Mustang's pointed look, he continued, " Well it was simple, too simple really that we made it too difficult. But you should understand it...after all, you have seen Truth, and the meaning behind that."

"Well, not everyone is a genius like you are Ed, so just explain it to me," Mustang told him, irritated.

"Nah, I think you can figure it out on your own. I guess you have a month to gaze at the stars and live off of bunnies," Ed said as he stretched and slid off the bed.

"Fullmetal...that was an order."

Ed waved his hand as he walked towards the door. "I think you keep forgetting that I'm not one of your dogs anymore. Well, good luck figuring that out," he said as he walked out, and closed the door. Leaving an upset general to mull over the simple seven words.

* * *

AN: Thank you for reading again, and the next chapter is in progress, but with college kicking my ass - it will come when I have time. Please don't forget to review, I'm not even kidding when I say it makes my week. :)


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